BEETHOVEN KNEW HE WAS GOING DEAF WHEN HE WROTE THIS MASTERPIECE – IT WAS HIS EXPRESSION OF DEFIANCE

My greatest satisfaction comes in that forte section at about 1:50 mins of the piece where both hands are playing simultaneously partly dissonant staccato chords. It is that section that made me try to play this 3rd movement in the first place. I feel Beethoven’s RAGE in it over his loss of hearing. He wrote this Sonata in 1801 when he became first aware that he would be going deaf. He was only 31 at the time.

Can you imagine the pain such a realization would cause to a composer and pianist of his talent and skill? And yet, he never gave up. Even when he was almost completely deaf, he created his greatest masterpiece – the Ninth. I did not realize this until this moment, but perhaps that’s what is also keeping me coming back to this piece even after giving up on it. What’s a little arthritic pain compared to something as terrible as deafness for a composer?

So maybe subconsciously, I am doing this as a tribute to good old Ludwig. Hm… And maybe, he has been the one nudging me to do it.